Monday, July 30, 2007
Hamas took Western journalists on a bus ride 'round Gaza today in what amounts to a sort of "Magical Misery Tour": Hamas gives Gaza tour to journalists to prove Strip is safe
"Gaza today is better," Ismail Haniyeh, still calling himself Palestinian Authority prime minister, told dozens of foreign reporters who joined a bus tour of the coastal enclave that took in a prison, a church, border posts and security installations...
According to Solomonia sources close to the bus, Hamas PR people on the ride were telling media people that "we are in favor of freedom of expression" while outside the bus, the Hamas Executive Force was beating up merchants who dared to sell West Bank newspapers:
Manuel Musallam, a priest, told reporters at his church that Hamas was "not a religious movement" hostile to the Christian minority but a "political movement" dedicated to the Palestinian people. "I am the best friend of Mr. Haniyeh," he added...
Dhimmi.
Update: A better article on the newspaper seizures and harassment of journalists: Hamas seizes Fatah newspapers
This is the first time that the newspapers, published in the West Bank, were prevented from distribution in the Gaza Strip.
Palestinian journalists said thousands of copies from the three newspapers were seized by Hamas's paramilitary Executive Force on the Palestinian side of the Erez border crossing. The newspapers were taken aboard a truck to a Hamas security installation nearby in the town of Beit Hanan.
According to the journalists, six Palestinians working for the newspapers were detained by Hamas for questioning. Two of them, Hatem Kishawi and Samir Jaber, work for the Fatah-controlled Al-Ayyam, which serves as a mouthpiece for the Palestinian Authority. The other four work for the PA-funded Al-Hayat Al-Jadeeda and Al-Quds, a pro-Fatah newspaper owned by a family from east Jerusalem...
..."Of course we're afraid," said a local journalist. "Hamas does not accept criticism. If you write something that they don't like, you will get into trouble. Unfortunately, the situation wasn't much better when Fatah was here. Both of them don't respect the freedom of the media."...
This is very reminiscent of Hezbollah's behavior with the press during last summer's war.